Theresa Mintle

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Who She Is: Before being chosen as Chief of Staff for the Rahm Emanuel administration, Theresa Mintle served as chief of staff for the Chicago Transit Board, which oversees the CTA. She has worked with the CTA since 2003, becoming chief of staff in 2007. Her position at the CTA followed her work with The Aspen Institute, where she was vice president of corporate development. Mintle worked as an assistant to Mayor Daley in the Office of Intergovernmental Affairs and also worked as a policy analyst for the city’s office of Budget and Management. She received her master’s in public administration from University of Wisconsin Madison in 1991 and received her bachelor’s degree in political science and economics from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 1984.

City Salary: Emanuel's Chief of Staff recieves $174,996.

Goals: Mintle’s previous connections to City Hall will be useful in maintaining some link to the past administration while looking into the future for ways to improve. Her skill in navigating the CTA’s budget will also be useful given the current state of the city.

Challenges: Mintle will have plenty to coordinate considering Emanuel has so many new faces joining his team. It could be difficult with so many ideas for the direction of the city, while fulfilling the promises made by Emanuel during the campaign.